


the monsters turned out to be just trees

by HeartonFire



Series: your eyes look like coming home [4]
Category: Daredevil (TV), The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Light Angst, Love Confessions, Meeting the Parents, Romance, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 12:07:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17446670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeartonFire/pseuds/HeartonFire
Summary: College AU. Frank and Karen meet each others' parents. What could be awkward and ugly turns into something beautiful.





	the monsters turned out to be just trees

**Author's Note:**

> For the lovely [nxbodygoesafterher](https://nxbodygoesafterher.tumblr.com), who prompted this a few days ago. Mostly fluff and light angst, with a dash of smut at the end. :) Enjoy!

 

Karen was laughing. Frank was holding her in his lap, fingertips trailing down her ribcage to make her giggle and squirm. She hadn’t seen him over winter break and she had missed this. His touch, his smile, his warmth. He had missed her too. He couldn’t keep his hands off her.

“So, my parents are coming to town next weekend.” He said it, mouth against her skin, like he was talking about the weather. Like that wasn’t a huge bombshell to drop on her. Like it wouldn’t make her freeze with fear. He lifted his head, brow furrowed. “What’s the matter?”

“You want me to meet your parents?”

He smiled again. “Of course I do. They’ve heard so much about you at this point, they really want to.”

Karen felt her heart pounding in her chest. She was shaking a little. Frank took her face in his hands and she had to look away. There was no reason to be so scared. Except for one. “I’ve never done this part before.” Her voice was steady, even though she felt like she might crumble into a million pieces.

Frank kissed her temple. “I’m not worried. You’re too amazing for them not to love you.”

Karen took a deep breath. “You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.”

He kissed her before she could say anything else, think of an excuse not to meet his parents. She wanted to. She really did. It was just a very big step, and she wasn’t sure she could handle it. They were in such a good place. She didn’t want to screw it up.

But Frank was already convincing her. His tongue pressed past her lips, hot and demanding. His hands tightened on her waist, and she squirmed in his lap, squeezing her thighs together as she searched for friction.

Frank felt her movement and grinned against her mouth. He tugged her leg over so she was straddling him, and she ground her hips against his with a low groan.

“I missed you so much,” she moaned, kissing down his neck.

“I missed you too,” he said, voice rumbling all the way through her.

Karen was just settling into their new position, really settling into being back with Frank, when her phone started to ring from across the room. She would have ignored it, but it was her dad’s ringtone. The one she had set up and never heard again. She wasn’t expecting it now. She wasn’t expecting it ever, if she was really being honest.

She pulled away from Frank. He grumbled and tried to keep her where she was, but she shook her head. “I have to take this.”

He nodded and released her, but she felt his eyes on her the whole time as she fumbled through her bag for her phone. She managed to answer it before it stopped ringing, but just barely.

“Hi!” she said, as cheerfully as she could manage. She hadn’t talked to her dad in months. Not since she called to let him know she got to school okay. He didn’t usually call. Neither did she.

“Karen.”

“What’s up?” It had to be some kind of emergency, right? Why else would he be calling?

“I’m going to be in town next weekend. I thought we should see each other.”

“What?” Her ears were ringing. She felt herself sway a little. Frank stood, hands outstretched toward her. He’d catch her if she fell. He always did.

“I thought you might like to see your dad.”

“Do you want to see me?”

He sighed. “I’m going to be in town.”

It wasn’t a yes. “My boyfriend is going to come too.” She felt the bitter desire to piss off her dad surge inside her. Paxton Page was always good at bringing that out in her. Nothing had changed.

“Boyfriend?” He sounded suspicious. “Hope this one is better than that idiot Todd.”

Karen couldn’t see for the red flooding her vision. “You know what, Dad?” Frank froze, a foot away from her. She turned away. She couldn’t look at him. Not right now. “If he can’t come, I’m not coming.”

Her father sighed again. “Fine. We’ll go to the Sovereign for dinner. Seven o’clock.”

He hung up before she could respond. “Sure thing, Dad,” she muttered to the silence. She threw the phone into her bag and felt Frank behind her before he even touched her. His arms wrapped around her waist and he pulled her against him.

“You okay?”

“Yeah.” She let out a long breath. “Just my dad.”  
“Guess I’m meeting him too?”

She turned to face him, and he pulled her into a hug, arms strong around her. She felt like he was holding her together. “Yeah, if that’s okay. I didn’t mean to rope you into it. He just makes me so mad sometimes.”

“I’d love to meet your dad.” He kissed the top of her head.

“Yeah, that’s because you don’t know him,” she mumbled.

“Wanna tell me about him?”

Karen took another deep breath. “We just don’t get along.”

“Hey,” Frank said, and she looked up at him. “Listen. We’ll go, eat some food, and then get back to normal. Okay?”

She smiled. “How do you do that?”

He squinted at her. “Do what?”  
“Always make me feel better.”

He smiled and kissed her again. They didn’t talk about parents or family or anything else for the rest of the night. She didn’t want to keep anything from him, but it was so hard for her to talk about it. She couldn’t. Yet. She would. Soon.

* * *

The week flew by, hard as Karen tried to slow it down. She was nervous about meeting Frank’s parents, nervous about seeing her dad, and nervous about Frank meeting her dad for the first time. She was wound so tight, even Frank couldn’t keep her steady.

He tried, though. Massages, foot rubs, a truly astounding amount of cunnilingus, anything he could think of to help her relax. But she knew all that would help was finally getting it over with.

They got to the restaurant before Frank’s parents. They found a table by the windows at the cute little café they were eating at, and Karen tried not to rip the napkin entirely to shreds before they arrived. Frank laid a hand over hers and she stilled. The warmth of his skin was enough to send a ripple of calm through the wave of anxiety that had been crashing over her all week.

Frank stood as his parents approached, and Karen was surprised to see a very sweet, older couple coming towards them. She would never have imagined that these were Frank’s parents.

“Hi ma.” He hugged his mom, and shook his dad’s hand. “How you feeling, dad?”

“Fine, son.”

They looked expectantly at Karen, and she held out her hand. “Hi. I’m Karen.”

“Come here, honey.” Frank’s mom opened her arms and hugged her, hard. Karen felt tears spring to her eyes at the memory of being hugged like this by her own mom. She blinked them away. The last thing she needed was for Frank’s parents to think she was unstable. Even though she was sometimes. Especially today.

“It’s so lovely to meet you,” she managed to say, fighting to get the words out.

“You too.” Frank’s dad held out his hand and she shook it.

Their lunch was wonderful. Frank’s parents were as welcoming and warm as he had told her they would be. They laughed when she made a joke, asked her questions about herself, even went so far as to tell her how happy they were that she was in Frank’s life when he excused himself to use the bathroom. Karen blushed at the attention.

“You just let us know whenever you’re in the city and you’ve got a place to stay, okay?” his mom said, with another hug as they were leaving.

“Thank you. I’m so glad we did this.”

“We are too.” His dad hugged her this time, and Karen wished her own dad would hug her that way. It wasn’t worth wishing for it, and she knew it. She was surprised he hadn’t canceled by now. She wasn’t going to let him dampen the glow of this meeting before she saw him. She wouldn’t allow it.

Frank squeezed her hand as his parents disappeared.

“They love you,” she said. “You can see it.”

He grinned. “And they loved you.” He kissed the side of her head and they headed for the exit.

Karen tensed. It had been such a nice day. It seemed like a shame to ruin it with seeing her dad.

“Can we just skip dinner?” she said, words tumbling out before she could stop them.

“What?” Frank stepped back, looking like she had pushed him.

“I just,” she said, stumbling when she saw the expression on his face. “I just don’t know how it’s going to go.”

“I don’t either.” He was still watching her carefully, like he half-expected her to bolt out of the restaurant. Like he was somehow hurt. “But I want to meet your dad.”

“You do? I mean, I know I kind of roped you into it before you even knew about it, and that’s not really fair and…”

Frank cut her off with a kiss. “I want to.” She couldn’t deny him this. She didn’t want to. Not really.

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

* * *

Karen felt like no time had passed when she saw her dad. He was the same as ever: impassive, almost cold. He didn’t move to hug her. He didn’t even stand up from the table when he saw them.

“Karen.”

“Hi, dad.” Karen gestured to Frank, who was pulling out her chair. “This is Frank.”

Her dad nodded. He didn’t say anything, but his frown deepened a little.

“What brings you to town?” Karen said, after she sat down.

“Had business.” He wouldn’t even give her full sentences. Karen felt herself tensing, and she hadn’t even picked up her menu yet.

Frank’s hand found hers under the table and squeezed. Just once. Just enough to remind her he was there. He was right beside her. They would get through this.

“Food looks good,” Frank said. Karen smiled. He was trying to help. Just like he always did.

Her dad grunted, staring at the appetizers. “He some drug dealer too?”

Karen’s heart stopped.

“Excuse me?” Frank was looking back and forth between Karen and her dad. She should have told him. Warned him. Given him a fighting chance to get through this dinner in one piece.

“I said, are you a drug dealer?” He set down his menu to glare at Frank. “You going to fuck up her life too?” He coughed out a harsh laugh. “No, sorry. I forgot. She can do that all by herself.”

Karen shrank down in her seat. She couldn’t speak. She could hardly breathe.

“Listen,” Frank said slowly. His hand tightened around hers. “Why don’t we just have a nice dinner?”

“I don’t know. Why don’t you ask Karen why we can’t do that?”

Frank shook his head, staring at her dad with fire in his eyes. “No. I’m asking you. You called her, if I remember correctly. You set this up. Why? To berate her? To upset her?”

Karen half-expected her dad to storm out, knocking over his chair. No one talked to Paxton Page that way. But he didn’t. He stared at Frank, cold disdain clear on his face.

“You don’t know anything about me. Or her, from the sound of it. Why don’t you ask her what happened to her brother? What she did to him?”

Karen was on her feet before she knew what she was doing, tears streaming down her face. She had to get out of there. She couldn’t do this. Not here. Not with her dad. Not with Frank.

Frank, who thought she was good. Who thought she was whole.

She fell against the door of the bathroom, sobs tearing their way out of her chest. Everything she had kept inside since Kevin died, everything she had pushed down since going away to school, since she started pretending to be normal again, it all came bubbling up like bile in her throat. She thought she might be sick.

“Karen?” She heard Frank’s voice, accompanied by a gentle knock on the door. “Karen, please let me in.”

“I’ll be out in a minute,” she choked out, around another sob. She nearly laughed. She wasn’t going to be out anytime soon. She was going to stay in this bathroom as long as she could. She could take an Uber home. She couldn’t face him.

“Karen, please.”

It was the crack in his voice that made her open the door. He wrapped her in his arms as soon as he saw her, and her body shook with a fresh wave of grief. He didn’t let go. He held her until she could breathe again.

“Did I ever tell you about Maria?” he said, voice low and ragged. Karen shook her head, looking at him curiously. “She was my girlfriend, in high school. Thought we’d get married. Thought she was it for me.”

Karen had stopped crying, now. She wanted to hear this, even though she could hear the pain in his voice. Even though it hurt to think of Frank with someone else.

“What happened?”

Frank swallowed. “Some idiot drugged her and knocked her down the stairs at a party I dragged her to. She was drunk. I wasn’t with her. I should have been.” He was breathing hard, eyes glassy. “She died, and I should have saved her.”

“Frank.” Karen cupped his cheek. “It wasn’t your fault.” His nocturnal vigilantism made more sense now. He hadn’t been able to protect Maria, but he could protect other girls from people who would hurt them. Karen shook her head. He never stopped reminding her of the soul-deep goodness in him, no matter what anyone else said.  
“Whatever happened with your brother, that wasn’t your fault either.”

Karen’s hand fell away from him. She felt cold and shivery, like she was back there. Back on that terrible night. “You don’t know the whole story.”

“I don’t need to. I want you to tell me when you’re ready, not because your dad was being an asshole about it.”

She backed up. She couldn’t touch him right now. She couldn’t let him touch her. She had to tell him. He deserved that. “It was my fault.”

He reached for her. She knew he wanted to comfort her. She didn’t deserve it. “Karen.”

“No. Please, let me just say it. Then you’ll know, and you won’t wonder what my dad was talking about.”

He opened his mouth to say something, but Karen shook her head. He held up his hands in surrender and crossed his arms. It was like he was holding himself back from touching her now, like he had to physically stop himself from pulling her back into an embrace.

“The summer before I was supposed to start here, last year, I was dating this guy. Todd.” She looked down. She couldn’t look at him right now. Not while she told him everything. Not while she waited to see if he would stay.

“The drug dealer?” Frank had always been smart. And it wasn’t exactly a difficult dot to connect.

“Yeah. We spent the whole summer getting high, dealing drugs, the whole thing.” She peeked at Frank’s face. He hadn’t moved. He wasn’t running away from her. “I was ready to throw everything away. For him.”

“What happened?”

“My brother could see how bad it was getting. I was high all the time, losing track of my responsibilities, not even packing for college. He came by Todd’s one night, and things escalated.” She cleared her throat. “He was hurt, and I tried to drive us home, but I was high.” Tears spilled down her face again. She didn’t even wipe them away. “I crashed, and Kevin didn’t make it.” Her voice was little more than a croak. “I postponed college, tried to put things back together again, but I couldn’t. Not without Kevin. He was the only thing holding us together and I killed him. That’s why my dad hates me. And he should.”

“Karen.” Frank moved toward her again. She didn’t stop him this time. “Karen.” His hand stroked through her hair and her breath came out in hiccups. He pulled her against his chest, voice rolling over her like thunder. “He’s your dad. He shouldn’t treat you that way.”

“I deserve it.” Her hands balled into fists against his chest. She wanted to scream. She wanted to rage at him to leave. He deserved someone who deserved him. Someone like Maria, from what it sounded like.

“You don’t.” She scoffed, and he lifted her chin with his finger. “I mean it. You’re good, and strong, and smart, and honestly, I don’t know what the hell you’re doing with me, but I’m so glad you picked me to be your fake-real boyfriend.”

“Stop it, Frank.” She sniffed. “Stop being so nice to me.”

“No.” He shook his head. “Can’t do that.”

“Why?” Karen stared at him. “How can you still want me, after everything I just told you?”

He smiled, kissing her gently. “I love you, Karen. Nothing is going to change that.”

“What?” Her ears were ringing. “What did you say?”

“I love you.” He was blushing now. “It’s okay, if you don’t…”

“I love you.” She kissed him, hard, and he laughed. She did too. His arms closed around her again and she dug her fingernails into the back of his neck. He was everything. He was all she needed. She could stay here forever, if he would let her. If she never had to see her dad again. The thought made her pause. “Hey, where’s my dad?”

“He left after you did.” Frank scowled. “Good riddance.”

“Still glad you met my dad?”

He smiled again, kissing her forehead. “Yes. Now, let’s go home, order a pizza, and stay in bed all day tomorrow. We’ve earned it.”

* * *

He wasn’t kidding. He got her home, ordered a pizza with everything from their favorite place, and took her to bed.

They had been wild and reckless recently, hooking up whenever, however, and wherever they could. But this was different.

Frank laid her down on his bed, hands ghosting over her skin lightly enough to raise goosebumps. She shivered and squirmed under him, all the tension of the day coiling inside her like a spring.

“Turn over,” he murmured against her ear. Karen did, without question. She trusted Frank. She loved him. He loved her. Really loved her, even knowing everything that happened. Even knowing what she had done.

He tugged at her shirt and she pulled it off over her head. She heard the hiss of breath he released at the sight of her bare back. It wasn’t like he had never seen it before, but every time, he made her feel like the most beautiful woman in the world.

Frank’s hands kneaded at the knots in her shoulders, thumbs pressing into her muscles hard enough to make her gasp.

“Too hard?” She shook her head and he kissed the back of her neck. His hands were warm and rough against her skin, and he worked slowly, methodically, from her shoulders, down her back, until his fingers began to work into her ass. Karen arched into him and he pressed her back down into the mattress. “Let me take care of you.”

Karen shook her head, smiling up at him from where her head rested on his pillow. “I want to take care of you, too.”

“Oh, you are, sweetheart. Trust me.”

She turned over anyway. “Please, Frank. I need you.”

He growled under his breath, fingers tightening around her hips as he pulled her down towards him. She was so wet, so ready for him, he hardly touched her slick folds with one finger and she was trembling for release.

“All this for me?”

Karen bit her lip as the blush rose in her cheeks. It was different now, now that they had told each other everything. Now that they had said the words out loud. It was more. It was better.

“Please, Frank.”

He eased himself inside with a low groan. “Karen. I love you. I love you.”

“I love you. I love you,” she echoed back to him.

It became a chant, a mantra as their bodies locked together, slippery with sweat as their pace increased. Karen felt her climax building, muscles tensing around Frank until she fell apart beneath him with a shuddering moan. He followed her soon after, emptying himself with a grunt as he collapsed on top of her. He kissed her neck, her jaw, her ear, her forehead.

A knock at the door told them the pizza had arrived. Frank kissed her one more time and wrapped the sheet around himself to answer the door. He locked it after he closed it, and slid back into bed beside her, pizza on his lap.

“This is perfect,” Karen said, nuzzling into his side as he handed her a slice.

“Yeah. It is.”

They didn’t leave the bed for the rest of the weekend, and it was the best weekend Karen could remember. Nothing else mattered. She had everything she needed.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I tried writing the conversation between Frank, Karen, and Frank's parents, but I had a hard time finding their voices, so that part had to stay kind of vague. If they appear again in later installments of this series, I'll try again. 
> 
> Anyway, thank you so much for reading! Comments and kudos are always extremely appreciated! Hit me up on [Tumblr](mostlyactorsandfood.tumblr.com) if you want to yell about Kastle or send me prompts or just talk about things! <3


End file.
